Pacifica @ Mandarin Oriental, KL

This must be underwater love
The way I feel it slipping all over me
This must be underwater love
The way I feel it

O que que é esse amor, dágua
Deve sentir muito parecido a esse amor
This is it
Underwater love
It is so deep
So beautifully liquid

Esse amor com paixão, ai
Esse amor com paixão, ai que coisa

After the rain comes sun
After the sun comes rain again
After the rain comes sun
After the sun comes rain again

(Underwater love, by Smoke City)

The Pacifica.
I feel like I am swimming underwater.
Only difference being that I can breathe and talk at the same time.

The venue permeates exclusivity with sheer curtained alcoves overlooking the beautiful Sultan Lounge, making it ideal for romantic dinners.

The cool blue ambiance, heightens the feeling of being suspended in the great oceanic underwater.. around you will see sphere-like fish bowls and floor-to-ceiling glass windows.. all adding to that mysterious, romantic depth of the deep blue.

First things first.. to please the mouth, the amuse-bouche.
Delicately seasoned and finely garnished, the prawn was a delight.

What is that you say? A stone? Pebble? A lump of some weird, spiky object.. ?

No, no. What you see is the black truffle.
We had decided that we were going to try the black truffle set menu for the night, and this cute little black lump you see , is the black truffle.

Anyway, just a quick word on the truffles. The French black truffle is the fruiting body of the fungus Tuber melanosporum. This fungus forms a symbiotic relationship with the roots of oak and hazel trees. The edible portion, or truffle, is harvested in winter once it has matured.

The French black truffle is considered the finest of the edible fungi and has a place in gastronomy alongside saffron, caviar, foie gras and the finest of wines. Widely considered as the jewel of French cooking prized for its unique flavour and intoxicating aroma. The ancient Greeks and Romans attributed therapeutic and aphrodisiac powers to them. Sauarin referred to them as “the jewel of cookery” saying they aroused “erotic and gastronomic memories among the skirted sex, and memories gastronomic and erotic among the bearded sex “. Alexandra Dumas described them as “the gastronomes holy of hollies”.

Well, well, all I can say is that the “do not disturb” sign should be hung squarely on the door, if you decide to take on this gastronomes holy of hollies;) Anyway, what you see in this collage is the friendly waiter weighing out the exact portion of black truffle to be shaved over each starter and main course. Throughout the dining experience, we will see him carting out the weighing scales, as that piece of truffle gets smaller and smaller, being used as part of the cooking as well as the garnishing of our food.

First up the liver pâté garnished with the truffle. Seeing as they were so generous with the truffle, you could taste and smell that characteristic odour with great intensity.

So what does it taste/smell like? Hmmm, let me tell you a story.

The truffles are found from just below the soil surface to a depth of 20 cm. Specially trained dogs and pigs are used to search for the truffles. German research has found that the truffles contain a steroid similar to that, which is produced by male pigs during pre-mating behaviour. This steroid acts as a pheromone hence the attraction of female pigs.

So, therefore the answer to that question – it smells like the pre-mating scent of the pigs.

(Just kidding.. Don’t let this story put you off though. It may smell like a certain animal mating steroid/hormone but it sure taste and smells brilliant to me!)

Still on the starters, the gnocchi. These thick, soft, dumplings were cooked al dente and perfect to taste. It was covered in a foam like sauce but my memory fails me now, what sauce it was exactly. I was actually, really rather more obsessed, with the truffle. Will it end? Will it run out? Will there be NO MORE?! No complaints about the gnocchi lumps.

My rare lamb cutlets. Bloody, runny, superb.

More truffle please. Yes.. more, more, more!

The Rare Kobe Beef. Runny, bloody, superb.

Kobe beef topped with chunky slices of truffle. Does life get much better than this? I think not.

The sorbet to cleanse the palate. I though of pushing it away because who, in their right mind, would want to cleanse their palate of kobe beef, lamb and black truffle?

The waiter glares at me. So I cleanse my palate with the sorbet.

Some sweets on the house.

The Truffle Mousse! Even dessert is infused with the truffle.

And the truffle dumplings (on the far bottom right of collage). These taste like mochi. High class, black truffle mochi, I might add.

We go down to the sultan lounge and look for our friend Donovan who is already behind the decks at sultan lounge.

OK. Great. Now I know where to get my truffle fix now thanks to you, and my artichokes thanks to LL. Yup. The Piedmont white truffles are perfect over creamy pasta, but I have yet to find where to get it in KL.

I'm not sure, but is that foamy sauce with your gnocchi a version of the savory Zabaglione? Heard the trippy underwater love.

what were the damages like – the prices? I love love love Truffles. I was at Michelin awards French restaurant – DSens at Dusit Thani Hotel Bangkok. Took a 6 course Truffle set – everything from desserts to main courses and the chef was so happy, he gave us raw truffle as spreads for buns.and damages were not too bad actually – 5000B (RM500 per pax) excludes drinks.

could ya , would you…da team will be so patiently awaiting ladyluv passionate finale capter sensa de la best black frenchie truffle everlast moons many starting from 1 aug or de gillotine awaits one before sunrise2aug. plse beg de pleasure of reply

The place looks classy and the food actually looks really good. I normally don't talk prices but how much did it set you back? They seemed very mean with the dishing out of the truffles. Your entire truffle weighs 21g which is what you would get on a single dish in London.

Probably the wrong season (Summer) to indulge in truffles as they are pretty tasteless this time of year. Just a correction: I very much doubt that the black truffle right now comes from France (the French Perigord truffle runs a very short season in Jan to Feb) and most summer truffles comes from China!! (They actually cultivate truffles there)

Ya… most truffles this time of year come from China one. They are truly awful. Lol. I had steak recently with summer truffles and i just pushed them all to one side. (Sssssshhhhh) There are only 2 times a year that truffles are worth eating:

The 'Winter Truffle' Between Late October to December: White Alba Truffles which is imho the BEST truffles. The peak period (also most expensive) is in Late November-Early December where the truffles are at their very best. The Alba whites are notoriously expensive around £2000+/kg – I know because I bought a 30g Alba Truffle once for a mere £70.

The 'Spring Truffle' Between Late December/Early Jan to February (technically it really is Winter-spring truffle): Perigord Black Truffles. Black truffles are more versatile compared to their white counsin – more robust and useful in a wide array of dishes (as opposed to the whites which are so strong a dish has to be quite plain to allow it to shine).

Outside these two times I won't go out of my way (ie pay supplements) to have truffles on my plate because they are not worth the money.